The Lens

The 14th edition evaluates 437 top universities across 23 countries. Universidade de São Paulo is the top university in the Latin America & the Caribbean region according to this year's rankings. The Brazilian university achieves a perfect score for its academic reputation.

Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (UC) is ranked second this year while another Brazilian institution, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp), is third.

Notably, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro made the most significant improvement in the top 10, moving from eighth last year to fifth place overall, due to strong results in Employer Reputation, International Research Network and Staff with PhD.

The QS World University Rankings: Latin America and Caribbean 2025 methodology uses compiled factors from the QS World University Rankings, with the inclusion of additional metrics and adjusted weightings to address the region’s specific priorities and challenges. Unique metrics include: Staff with PhD – This metric reflects the ongoing challenge of academic quality in the region. While a PhD isn’t a complete solution, it does indicate subject expertise and peer recognition. Web Impact – This measures a university’s online presence, recognising that institutions in global rankings should have a strong digital footprint, often featuring English-language content to cater to international students, not just local ones. Papers per Faculty and Citations per Paper – These variations of research analytics highlight the importance of research productivity in the region while acknowledging that global citations often favour English-language publications.

New entrants

14 institutions make their debut in the QS World University Rankings: Latin America & The Caribbean 2025. Guatemala’s Universidad Rafael Landívar (URL) ranked 171-180th is the strongest performing new entrant. Argentina accounts for two new universities: Universidad Argentina John F. Kennedy (ranked 301-350) and Universidad Siglo 21 (ranked 401+). Paraguay, El Salvador, and Mexico also feature two new institutions each. Brazil, Chile, Guatemala, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and Ecuador each added one new institution to the table.

Notable changes in the overall top 20

Institutions in Brazil saw the strongest improvements among all locations in the top 20 of the QS World University Rankings: Latin America & The Caribbean 2025. Brazilian university UNESP improved from 10th to eighth in their overall rank. Thanks to its improvement in Academic Reputation, Employer Reputation, Citations per Paper, Papers per Faculty and Staff with PhD scores. Universidade Federal do Rio Grande Do Sul improved their overall rank from 18th to 16th, due to their strong performance in the Academic Reputation, Employer Reputation and Citations per Paper indicator. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais advanced from 14th to 13th position overall, showing a rise in Academic Reputation, Employer Reputation, and Citations per Paper also.